Mr. Hawkersmith was born in Winchester, Tennessee the son of the late Will and Irene Crawford Hawkersmith.

He was the owner and operator of Hawkersmith & Sons Nursery in Tullahoma and was a member of both the Middle Tennessee Nursery Association and the Tennessee Nursery Association where he was named a lifetime member in 1991. He was also a member of the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders Association, was named the Conservation Farmer of the Year in 2004. Louis was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Tullahoma.